1
Laboratory Rats
In Korean folklore, the rat is not merely a pest, and it is no coincidence that it occupies the first place in the zodiac. But the rat is also associated with the legend of the Impostor (The Cut Fingernail). According to this myth, if a person throws their nail or hair clippings on the ground instead of burning them or disposing of them properly, a rat may eat them. By ingesting these pieces of human body, the rat absorbs the person's vital essence and takes on their exact appearance. It then takes the victim's place within their own family, driving the real human being away and making them appear insane. This tale served as a warning to children, teaching them cleanliness, respect for the body (which, according to Confucian tradition, is inherited from one's parents), and caution about what they leave behind. But while the white rat is a symbol of divine blessing, our rat here is black, a symbol of malice. Like a Rat is a thriller adapted from Ludovico's webcomic, which draws inspiration from this legend and attempts to put it into practice. Like Song Kang-ho and Choi Min-sik, Sul Kyung-gu seems eager to have a little "fun," taking on ambitious projects that only Netflix and Disney can afford to offer him, and here he does so with Field Mouse. So, does this adaptation succeed or not?
Je Mun-Jae (Ryu Jun-Yeol) is a novelist who has been living as a recluse for the past three years. He communicates with the outside world only through his friend, who takes care of everything for him. But one day, his life suddenly falls apart: he can no longer unlock his phone or access his bank accounts… and his friend becomes unreachable overnight. He cannot even prove his own identity because nobody knows who he is. He no longer exists as Je Mun-Jae, because a "rat" has stolen everything from him. Worse still, the police are convinced that he has committed several crimes and offenses, so he has no choice but to go on the run. His only hope lies with No-Ja (Sul Kyung-Gu), a former crime boss who has reinvented himself as a loan shark. The problem is that No-Ja has been looking for Mun-Jae for more than three years because Mun-Jae owes him a large sum of money. Mun-Jae convinces him not to kill him and promises to repay everything he owes if No-Ja helps him find the man who has stolen his identity, much like a doppelgänger. Paranoid and schizophrenic, Mun-Jae must piece together fragments of his past in order to separate fact from fiction. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Park Sun-Yong (Lee Kyoo-Hyung), who has been after No-Ja for a long time, quickly connects the two cases and sets off in pursuit of them. But who is the cat and who is the mouse, or rather… the rat?**
Like a Rat is exactly the kind of thriller that immediately grabbed my attention, only to gradually leave me wanting more. From the very first minutes, the drama establishes a particularly dark and unsettling atmosphere. The story places us inside the mind of a character whom we can never be sure is the victim of a conspiracy or simply being deceived by his own paranoia. Mun-Jae takes medication for anxiety, seems to be losing his grip, and no longer knows what he can trust. For a while, every possibility seems plausible: impostor, twin, hallucination, manipulation… And for a large part of the series, the drama plays remarkably well with this ambiguity. The story becomes a genuine game of deception revolving around identities. We think we have figured out who the victim is, who the impostor is, who the Rat is… before the story regularly comes along and reshuffles the cards. The revelations about Mun-Jae's past, the different identities, and especially Seo Yu-min gradually turn the story into one gigantic game of "who is who?" The most successful aspect is that some clues were there from the very beginning. The habit of biting one's nails, in particular, takes on an entirely different meaning once the revelations are known. The drama had therefore properly laid the groundwork for some of its surprises and does not rely solely on twists pulled out of nowhere. The first six episodes are particularly well constructed, gripping and dense, both narratively and in terms of the action scenes.**
But the screenplay deteriorates during the final stretch. I really enjoyed the beginning and middle of the series, but the final two episodes cooled me down considerably. The twists become increasingly numerous, sometimes at the expense of credibility. Miraculous escapes, ambiguous flashbacks that reveal either too much or not enough, and characters suddenly switching sides sometimes give the impression that the screenplay is primarily looking for ways to move the plot forward. The problem is all the more noticeable because the series had established such a realistic, dark and particularly believable tone up to that point. These shortcuts therefore clash strongly with what had made it so effective. The same goes for some of the action scenes, including one of the final confrontations between No-Ja and Park Seung-Gyu… Yeah, no, actually. I'm deliberately exaggerating, but that's the idea: the series becomes less rigorous precisely when it should be reaching its climax. A thriller of this quality should normally go out with a bang. Here, the tension accumulated over several episodes gradually deflates just when it should have reached its peak. It is genuinely unfortunate that the momentum fizzles out toward the end, which is sadly the series' biggest weakness. But that should not overshadow everything that works, because the suspense remains omnipresent from beginning to end.**
Like a Rat is directed by Kim Hong-Sun, who is a genre specialist, so we're in for something substantial. The direction is probably one of the series' greatest strengths. The cinematography is superb, the atmosphere is particularly well crafted, and the whole production has a genuine cinematic quality. The action scenes are also very successful. The chase sequences are particularly convincing and genuinely feel like watching a movie sequence, while the fights do not shy away from violence. The score perfectly complements the dark atmosphere and contributes greatly to the series' identity. Finally, the cast is clearly up to the task. Ryu Jun-Yeol carries a large part of the series on his shoulders with a particularly demanding role, especially in the scenes where his character's identity becomes the very heart of the story. But Sul Kyung-Gu is impressive. At 58, he has a presence that immediately commands respect and gives No-Ja enormous credibility. Alongside Lee Kyoo-Hyung, they form a particularly convincing trio. Their dynamic as gangster and police officer works because all three actors play their characters with such naturalism that they feel completely believable. The almost exclusively male cast also fits the series' criminal world perfectly.**
In the end, Like a Rat leaves me with fairly mixed feelings. I genuinely enjoyed being led down the garden path by this story and trying, episode after episode, to understand what was hiding behind this succession of identities and manipulations. It is rare enough for a thriller to maintain so much mystery without making me give up along the way. But precisely because of that, after such a build-up, I expected much more from the resolution. The series had created a fascinating game of deception and an atmosphere that gave it everything it needed to deliver a knockout blow, but it gets a little lost along the way by trying to make its story increasingly complicated. What bothers me most in the end is that some questions seem to have been deliberately left unanswered, even though answering them would have given the whole thing considerably more coherence. As for the open ending, I find it rather pointless: leaving something ambiguous only works when that ambiguity adds something to the story or allows us to look back at it differently. Here, I mostly felt as though I was being asked to keep thinking about a story that, above all, needed a better conclusion. So we are left with a gripping and often highly successful thriller, but also one whose potential has been somewhat wasted. The Rat certainly led me on a wild chase, but what it really needed was to know where its own burrow was.
Je Mun-Jae (Ryu Jun-Yeol) is a novelist who has been living as a recluse for the past three years. He communicates with the outside world only through his friend, who takes care of everything for him. But one day, his life suddenly falls apart: he can no longer unlock his phone or access his bank accounts… and his friend becomes unreachable overnight. He cannot even prove his own identity because nobody knows who he is. He no longer exists as Je Mun-Jae, because a "rat" has stolen everything from him. Worse still, the police are convinced that he has committed several crimes and offenses, so he has no choice but to go on the run. His only hope lies with No-Ja (Sul Kyung-Gu), a former crime boss who has reinvented himself as a loan shark. The problem is that No-Ja has been looking for Mun-Jae for more than three years because Mun-Jae owes him a large sum of money. Mun-Jae convinces him not to kill him and promises to repay everything he owes if No-Ja helps him find the man who has stolen his identity, much like a doppelgänger. Paranoid and schizophrenic, Mun-Jae must piece together fragments of his past in order to separate fact from fiction. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Park Sun-Yong (Lee Kyoo-Hyung), who has been after No-Ja for a long time, quickly connects the two cases and sets off in pursuit of them. But who is the cat and who is the mouse, or rather… the rat?**
Like a Rat is exactly the kind of thriller that immediately grabbed my attention, only to gradually leave me wanting more. From the very first minutes, the drama establishes a particularly dark and unsettling atmosphere. The story places us inside the mind of a character whom we can never be sure is the victim of a conspiracy or simply being deceived by his own paranoia. Mun-Jae takes medication for anxiety, seems to be losing his grip, and no longer knows what he can trust. For a while, every possibility seems plausible: impostor, twin, hallucination, manipulation… And for a large part of the series, the drama plays remarkably well with this ambiguity. The story becomes a genuine game of deception revolving around identities. We think we have figured out who the victim is, who the impostor is, who the Rat is… before the story regularly comes along and reshuffles the cards. The revelations about Mun-Jae's past, the different identities, and especially Seo Yu-min gradually turn the story into one gigantic game of "who is who?" The most successful aspect is that some clues were there from the very beginning. The habit of biting one's nails, in particular, takes on an entirely different meaning once the revelations are known. The drama had therefore properly laid the groundwork for some of its surprises and does not rely solely on twists pulled out of nowhere. The first six episodes are particularly well constructed, gripping and dense, both narratively and in terms of the action scenes.**
But the screenplay deteriorates during the final stretch. I really enjoyed the beginning and middle of the series, but the final two episodes cooled me down considerably. The twists become increasingly numerous, sometimes at the expense of credibility. Miraculous escapes, ambiguous flashbacks that reveal either too much or not enough, and characters suddenly switching sides sometimes give the impression that the screenplay is primarily looking for ways to move the plot forward. The problem is all the more noticeable because the series had established such a realistic, dark and particularly believable tone up to that point. These shortcuts therefore clash strongly with what had made it so effective. The same goes for some of the action scenes, including one of the final confrontations between No-Ja and Park Seung-Gyu… Yeah, no, actually. I'm deliberately exaggerating, but that's the idea: the series becomes less rigorous precisely when it should be reaching its climax. A thriller of this quality should normally go out with a bang. Here, the tension accumulated over several episodes gradually deflates just when it should have reached its peak. It is genuinely unfortunate that the momentum fizzles out toward the end, which is sadly the series' biggest weakness. But that should not overshadow everything that works, because the suspense remains omnipresent from beginning to end.**
Like a Rat is directed by Kim Hong-Sun, who is a genre specialist, so we're in for something substantial. The direction is probably one of the series' greatest strengths. The cinematography is superb, the atmosphere is particularly well crafted, and the whole production has a genuine cinematic quality. The action scenes are also very successful. The chase sequences are particularly convincing and genuinely feel like watching a movie sequence, while the fights do not shy away from violence. The score perfectly complements the dark atmosphere and contributes greatly to the series' identity. Finally, the cast is clearly up to the task. Ryu Jun-Yeol carries a large part of the series on his shoulders with a particularly demanding role, especially in the scenes where his character's identity becomes the very heart of the story. But Sul Kyung-Gu is impressive. At 58, he has a presence that immediately commands respect and gives No-Ja enormous credibility. Alongside Lee Kyoo-Hyung, they form a particularly convincing trio. Their dynamic as gangster and police officer works because all three actors play their characters with such naturalism that they feel completely believable. The almost exclusively male cast also fits the series' criminal world perfectly.**
In the end, Like a Rat leaves me with fairly mixed feelings. I genuinely enjoyed being led down the garden path by this story and trying, episode after episode, to understand what was hiding behind this succession of identities and manipulations. It is rare enough for a thriller to maintain so much mystery without making me give up along the way. But precisely because of that, after such a build-up, I expected much more from the resolution. The series had created a fascinating game of deception and an atmosphere that gave it everything it needed to deliver a knockout blow, but it gets a little lost along the way by trying to make its story increasingly complicated. What bothers me most in the end is that some questions seem to have been deliberately left unanswered, even though answering them would have given the whole thing considerably more coherence. As for the open ending, I find it rather pointless: leaving something ambiguous only works when that ambiguity adds something to the story or allows us to look back at it differently. Here, I mostly felt as though I was being asked to keep thinking about a story that, above all, needed a better conclusion. So we are left with a gripping and often highly successful thriller, but also one whose potential has been somewhat wasted. The Rat certainly led me on a wild chase, but what it really needed was to know where its own burrow was.
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